Global Edition news

Digital research platform Owkin scored $25 million in funding yesterday. The round was led by Bpifrance Large Venture with participation from Cathay Innovation and MACSF.
The platform aims to connect doctors, researchers, scientists and other stakeholders. It uses artificial intelligence to help create data sets and distribute the information to the stakeholders. Its main product, Owkin Studio,...

Yesterday morning digital health and fitness company Pear Sports announced its purchase of artificial intelligence exercise-coaching platform Performance Lab.
Performance Lab specializes in using AI to gain insights into athletic performance and then develop a personalized exercise program. Pear Sports plans to use this technology in its real-time interactive coaching tool.
“The mission at Pear ...

A number of digital health companies have seen their businesses grow amid the COVID-19 crisis, and so far Livongo Health appears to be no exception. The company announced strong quarterly results headlined by revenue growth and a record number of client launches.
Taking new agreements and the prospect of continued demand for virtual services into account, the company said that it has raised its...

Pharmaceutical-cost-transparency startup GoodRx is now looking to the testing space with the launch of its new lab market place. Customers can now to do a price comparison across tests that cover everything from STI to COVID-19 testing and pregnancy too celiac.
So far, the company has teamed up with 10 lab-testing providers. Once a customer has entered the condition they would like to be tested...

New York City-based home-lab-test startup LetsGetChecked said this morning that it has wrapped up an oversubscribed $71 million Series C round co-led by Illumina Ventures and HLM Venture Partners.
The raise also included new backers Deerfield, CommonFund Capital and Angeles Investments, while investors Transformation Capital, Optum Ventures and Qiming Venture Partners USA returned to further fuel...

Digital mental health company Limbix scored $9 million in Series A funding. The new round was led by GSR Ventures with participation from sequoia Capital, Storm Ventures, NexGen Venture Partners and BIXINK Therapeutics.
This comes roughly four months after the Palo Alto-based startup was selected as one of 27 digital health companies in MassChallenge HealthTech’s 2020 accelerator class.
WHAT IT...

This morning the FDA granted Australian company Headsafe a 510(k) clearance for its connected headgear that is able to perform an assessment of the brain.
Named Nurochek, the system uses Visual Evoked Potential (VEP) in order to gauge brain health. When a user puts on the headgear, which includes a set of goggles, the system presents visual stimulus to the brain. As this process is taking place...

Fitbit announced this morning the launch of a new atrial fibrillation research study aiming to enroll hundreds of thousands of fitness-tracker and smartwatch owners.
Called the Fitbit Heart Study, it will passively and continuously monitor wearers' heart rates using the devices' photoplethysmography (PPG) sensors. A proprietary algorithm will interpret these readings and flag potential...

Pharma giant Johnson & Johnson is teaming up with Alevo Technologies on a new at-home diagnostic testing platform. The new tool, called the Alveo b.well, will be built to detect viral disease — which may one day include coronavirus detection. According to a release from the company, the product will include an analyzer, nasal swabs and cartridges for the detection of a virus. Consumers can...

The FDA has granted an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to VitalConnect that allows its VitalPatch wearable sensor to further monitor patients undergoing COVID-19 treatment.
As per the agency's letter of authorization, providers may use the remote-monitoring device in a hospital setting to spot changes in patients' QT interval, which may be dangerously prolonged by experimental drug treatments...